Entry 11 – 19h to 26th Oct., Bowen to, Proserpine, Queensland.
About 90-kilometres down the road from Collinsville was our next targeted location the town of Bowen located on the coast. Our only accommodation options were a choice of one of nine caravan parks. We chose a caravan park at Horseshoe Bay, a nice sheltered beach. Admittedly the caravan park was plain and ordinary, but its location away from busy roads and proximity to a beach was appealing to us. As a bonus we thought we were allocated one of the better-looking camp sites.
It was good to be in a location like Bowen with large supermarkets where we were able to obtain our necessities to restock our pantry and very bare fridge shelves. It had been exactly three weeks since our last big shop. We seem to succumb with our impulse buys on days like this, enjoying some naughty treats and feeling a bit on the guilty side by the end of the day.
We enjoyed the location of Horseshoe Bay snorkelling a few times in the nice temperature waters viewing some coral and fish. There was a walking trail with some challenging rock outcrops to negotiate and early in the morning we tested out Mary’s leg recovery from her fall to the day, four weeks prior.
Bowen is located just north of the Whitsunday Islands and we saw glimpses of islands in the distance on our walk.
The Whitsunday Islands are a very exclusive group of islands promoting luxurious accommodation. It is a location noted for the lavish yacht lifestyle. From a lookout at Bowen we managed a photograph of Gloucester Island, around 20-kilometres away, across the water and have zoomed in to show the boat flotilla parked out the front of a resort, unsighted with normal vision.
From the high vantage point along our morning walk we could see a couple of the towns water tanks in the distance with colourful murals. Later in the day we took a drive for a closer inspection.
We were sweaty and hot on our return from the walk and jumped into the ocean for some more fish and coral spotting. Feeling exhausted from our constant mornings activity we then progressed to an hour spent with a siesta because we could.
We were camped on a point with a bay stretching back around to our side with the open ocean to the east and the bay to the west. We spent time driving around Bowen including around this side bay. Our camp was just on the other side of the white resort in the distance.
We were located on the east coast of Australia with the sun rising from the ocean waters and sets in the west, generally over the land. Due to the unique location of our point we could look west, back across the bay and watch a glorious sun set with an ocean setting directly in front of us.
It was twilight once the sun had set and we could see a large school of small fish moving about in the bay. We watched birds diving into the water for a meal of small fish. We even saw some large splashing from fish participating in the feed. We did obtain some interesting photographs of terns diving into the water where the small fish could be seen moving about. The dwindling light did inhibit the quality of our photographs but we did manage to get one of a tern and fish both at the same time involved in the feeding frenzy.
Bowen had many murals displayed around town and even some of the locals participating, spiffing up their own homes.
On our drive exploring around Bowen at one stage we got lost ending up on a dirt track near the middle of town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. When we stopped to get our bearings, we spied some interesting sculptures in the distance not recorded on any of the literature provided by the information centre. Bowen landscape is covered with swampy mangroves and with a bit of effort we eventually made our way closer to the sculptures.
After two nights of paying exorbitant caravan park fees we decided to move down the road a bit, setting camp in the town of Proserpine with a provided free camp. From Proserpine we did a day trip to Shute Harbour where an array of various boating options travel into the Whitsunday Islands. It is a very affluent looking location with the primary industry aimed around tourism.
We did spot an amazing playground where Steve needed to assess its suitability for his grandchildren and naturally for his own kids.
We spent time driving and walking viewing some of the attractions. There was one item we would have liked our grandchildren to have been present for providing the required pedal power.
During 2014 we remember paying $2.20 per litre for diesel in northern Western Australia, 2020 it had been $1.85 per litre in the Northern Territory. In Queensland Whitsunday region there seemed to be an oversupply of fuel stations where we saw exceptionally low fuel prices displayed and a diesel price we thought we hadn’t seen for around 15 years.
The northern coastal regions of Queensland are good sugar cane producing country with many towns establishing themselves around the many sugar producing mills and Proserpine was no exception.
At 4 am on our second morning at Proserpine there was to be a meteor shower and Mary set the alarm to get up. Yes, the alarm woke us and we did drag our tired bodies out side to find we were shrouded by a mist. Possibly exacerbated by the sugar mill output?
Proserpine township provided a free camp with a limited stay of 48-hours. We were enjoying the comfortable daily temperatures of around 32-degrees of this region and decided to relocate about 20-kilometres out of town to another free camp option at Lake Proserpine.
The camp ground was in its final stages of completion by the Whitsunday council, with a camping area large enough that we thought would be able to cater for around 200 camp sites. This site had been made available for camping; fee free prior to its completion. Some entry roads had been established along with an amenity block with hot showers, but had an imposed stay of a three-day limit. A conversation with the council ranger showed the council were going to install an onsite operator to look after the camp ground and collect a nominal fee.
Lake Proserpine was a large expanse of water where all manner of water activities was permitted. We arrived on a Friday, late morning and we suspect there were around 70 camps already established. Most were on the grassed area fronting onto the water’s edge. Setting camp near the water’s edge looked very tempting but we decided to err on the side of caution, especially with a week-end upon us and set camp a couple of hundred-metres from the water in amongst the trees. This turned out to be a good decision as vehicles, many towing boats streamed in all afternoon heading for the area closest to the water. We could hear vehicles arriving all hours of the night.
It seemed the Lake Proserpine location near the populated coastal region was much appreciated and utilized by the locals. By early Saturday morning the large grassed area had become packed with campers, looking horridly crowded. There was a steady stream of caravans and motor homes exiting the camp ground from this area, we suspect from travellers whom had set camp in a magnificent looking location without consideration of an approaching week-end?
During the day there was the constant background noise of jet skis and boat motors, also many generators running around the camp ground but for us the noise in our near vicinity wasn’t uncomfortable. Sunday was a constant stream of vehicles exiting the camp ground. The water’s edge was looking rather inviting again with the departure of the week-end crowd. The temptation pull was too great to resist and we spent our last permitted night with a change of camp location, enjoying the serenity of the water’s edge of Lake Proserpine.
We did like the below photograph of the bull in the lake water. It was having a delightful time flicking its tail up from sitting in the water, spraying itself with water. You can see the dots of water travelling across the bull’s front girth.
From Lake Proserpine we returned to Proserpine township free camp to take advantage of its good internet location. Our internet provider had provided a second additional bonus 10 gig of data to be used during Steve’s birthday month, due to expire in a few days. We decided to use this data to upload this blog edition.
